Evaluation of the Tribal Strategies Against Violence (TSAV) Initiative in Four Tribal Sites in the United States, 1995-1999 (ICPSR 4080)

This study evaluated the Tribal Strategies Against Violence
(TSAV) Initiative. The TSAV was a federal-tribal partnership, lasting
from 1995 to 1999, designed to develop comprehensive strategies in
tribal communities to reduce crime, violence, and substance abuse.
This study involved four of the seven TSAV sites: the Chickasaw Nation
in Oklahoma, Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes in Montana, the
Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians in Michigan, and
the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians in North Dakota. A survey
... (more info)

This study evaluated the Tribal Strategies Against Violence
(TSAV) Initiative. The TSAV was a federal-tribal partnership, lasting
from 1995 to 1999, designed to develop comprehensive strategies in
tribal communities to reduce crime, violence, and substance abuse.
This study involved four of the seven TSAV sites: the Chickasaw Nation
in Oklahoma, Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes in Montana, the
Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians in Michigan, and
the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians in North Dakota. A survey
of TSAV stakeholders at the four sites was conducted in the summer and
fall of 1999. The objectives of the survey were to gauge TSAV
stakeholders' perceptions about the following: (1) the serious crime,
violence, and quality of life issues in each community and the extent
to which the local TSAV initiative had addressed those issues, (2) the
intent and ultimate outcomes of the TSAV program, (3) obstacles to
successful implementation of TSAV activities, and (4) decision-making
processes used in planning and implementing TSAV locally. Offense data
were also gathered at the Fort Peck site for 1995 to 1998 and at the
Grand Traverse Band site for 1997 to 1999.

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Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.

Universe:
Part 1: Individuals involved with implementing the TSAV
programs at the four sites involved in this study. Part 2: Adult and
juvenile offenses committed by tribe members at the Fort Peck
site. Part 3: Adult and juvenile offenses committed by tribe members
at the Grand Traverse Band site.

Data Types:
survey data, and administrative records data

Methodology

Study Purpose:
This study evaluated the Tribal Strategies
Against Violence (TSAV) Initiative. Designed by the United States
Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance, the TSAV was a
federal-tribal partnership designed to develop comprehensive
strategies in tribal communities to reduce crime, violence, and
substance abuse. The TSAV initiative had three official objectives:
(1) improve communities' ability to comprehensively address issues of
crime, violence, and drugs, (2) promote community-based program
development involving the active participation of youth, community
residents, educators, spiritual leaders, businesses, social services,
criminal justice representatives, and elected officials, and (3)
develop an effective culturally sensitive program model that can be
replicated by other Native American Communities. Each of the seven
sites that received TSAV funding developed a specific set of goals to
further these overall objectives. Each site had a core team that
consisted of approximately five people who held formal planning and
oversight responsibility for the local TSAV initiative. This study
involved four of the seven TSAV sites: the Chickasaw Nation in
Oklahoma, Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes in Montana, the Grand
Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians in Michigan, and the
Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians in North Dakota. TSAV funding
was awarded to the Fort Peck tribes in 1995 and to the other three
sites in 1996. For all four sites TSAV funding lasted through August
1999. This evaluation had the following goals: (1) document how TSAV
approaches had evolved at each of the four TSAV sites, (2) document
how each site had implemented its comprehensive strategies, (3)
analyze and report how differences in local cultures, physical
environments, or government structures at the sites may have affected
implementation at the sites and may or may not have implications for
the potential success of TSAV in other American Indian communities,
and (4) provide useful evaluation findings for tribal and United
States Department of Justice (DOJ) decision-makers and other criminal
justice stakeholders.

Study Design:
Part 1 contains data from a survey of TSAV
stakeholders at all four study sites that was conducted in the summer
and fall of 1999. The survey used a questionnaire consisting of 207
items addressing 16 topic areas. The objectives of the survey were to
gauge TSAV stakeholders' perceptions about the success of TSAV
initiatives and the remaining crime, violence, and quality of life
issues in each community. The questionnaire was adapted from one used
by the Comprehensive Communities Program, another Bureau of Justice
Assistance initiative. Part 2 contains data on crimes committed at the
Fort Peck site. These data were collected for the fiscal year 1995
through the fiscal year 1998 from the tribal court, which had
facilities in the towns of Wolf Point and Poplar, and from the Wolf
Point Police, a city police force that operated within the Fort Peck
Reservation's boundaries. Offense data for 1999 were not obtained
because they were not available at the time the site was visited in
October 1999. Wolf Point Police Department data overlap with the
tribal court data because from 51 percent (in 1995) to 67 percent (in
1996) of the Wolf Point cases were referred to the tribal court. Part
3 contains data on crimes committed at the Grand Traverse Band site
for the fiscal years 1997, 1998, and 1999. These data were collected
from the Grand Traverse Band's police department. Crime data were not
available for the Turtle Mountain or Chickasaw Nation sites. The data
were provided to ICPSR as Microsoft Excel files. ICPSR has converted
the data to PDF format and distributes the data and documentation
as one PDF file.

Sample:
A list of 35 potential respondents was developed for each
site and the Core Team members were asked to identify those
respondents who would be most familiar with the local TSAV initiative.
Between 22 and 24 stakeholders, including TSAV staff, were identified
as survey respondents for each site.

Data Source:

Data were gathered through surveys of TSAV stakeholders
at each of the four sites involved in the study and from
administrative records at the Fort Peck and Grand Traverse Band
sites.

Description of Variables:
Variables in Part 1 include the major crime and
violence problems in regard to both juveniles and adults, quality of
life issues, the extent to which the local TSAV initiative had
addressed crime, violence, and quality of life issues, the
effectiveness of the TSAV program in certain key areas, obstacles to
successful implementation of the TSAV program, the extent to which
there was conflict between different TSAV partners, how conflict was
typically resolved, and what respondents thought should be done
differently in the TSAV program. Part 2 contains detailed information
on offenses committed by both adults and juveniles at the Fort Peck
site for the fiscal years 1995 to 1998. These data are divided into
offenses reported by the tribal court and those reported by the Wolf
Point Police. Part 3 contains detailed offense information for the
Grand Traverse Band site for the fiscal years 1997 to 1999. Data are
provided in the following categories: alcohol or drug-related
offenses, automobile-related offenses, weapons offenses, crimes
against persons, domestic offenses, juvenile offenses, major offenses,
other offenses, and property offenses.

Response Rates:
Part 1: Of the 93 potential respondents identified
at all four sites, 67 (72 percent) returned surveys. At the Chickasaw
Nation site 18 of the 23 (78 percent) surveys were returned. At the
Turtle Mountain site 11 of 24 (46 percent) surveys were returned. At
the Grand Traverse site 20 of 24 (83 percent) surveys were returned.
At the Fort Peck site 18 of 22 (82 percent) surveys were returned. In
addition, the degree to which individual survey items were completed
varied from site to site. Questions nine through twelve, in
particular, were problematic. The number of responses to those
questions was far less than for most other questions, probably due to
the time required to answer them. The majority of respondents did not
answer those four questions, and responses to those questions are not
included in this dataset. Parts 2 and 3: Not applicable.

Presence of Common Scales:
Part 1: Several Likert-type scales were used. Parts 2 and 3:
None.